Jacob Chaal
Jacob Chaal is a dark mage of great power and prestige; known troughout Fiore as one of the most successful Necromancers of the current timeline. While Jacob is rarely if ever seen. The populace which inhabits the remote villages close to the forest in which he supposedly makes his home certainly makes use of his looming presence in order to frighten their children to behave lest the dark mage comes and drags them, screaming and crying away to his dark keep to transform them into gibbering monstrosities. There is of course very little truth in these claims, but the Necromancer himself is appeased by the results, as few people even dare to venture into the woods in fear of what he might do to them: and as such, the populace leaves him mostly at peace - something which he is highly content with. It is also strongly suggested and most likely true that Jacob served as the true head of the dark guild known as Eisenwald, and it can easily be assumed that the only reason it managed to stay beneath the radar for so long was due to the Necromancers vast amount of resources; if one is to believe the rumors - Jacob ordered any victim assassinated by this guild to be sent to a secret crypt in which he holds his personal supply of dead bodies and corpses. Jacob is also believed to provide financial support for many other dark guilds, especially those whom deal with assassination; with the deal always being the same; that they transport the dead bodies of their victims to his crypt, along with the bodies of their own members ---should they ever die. The crypt in question is enchanted with powerful magic so that any corpse inside of it is preserved indefinately and their magical power is left intact. Appearance There is little about Jacob that betrays his position as a dark mage; his auburn colored hair is wavered and well-kept; he is always clean shaven and does his utmost to appear presentable and well-groomed at all times in stark contrast to most other Dark Mages, cuttthroats and criminals as they are. Standing at the impressive height of 6'3 and sporting and impressive build for a mage, likely the result of long years of hard labor in conjunction with his magical studies. The oddest part though, is his clothing - Jacob is always dressed in clothes of the highest imaginable quality known to man; silk, velvet and other costly materials all make up his attires of choice, indicating a great deal of wealth, somewhat curious to some. Jacob is almost never seen without three items, two rings with a black and red stone inserted respectively; and a long cloak dyed in the color of a cold night. Personality Jacob could easily pass for a living man, to all but powerful mages and knowledgeable individuals; the former because of his distorted magical aura, and the latter because they could recognize the nature of the spell which he uses to conceal his pale skin and the chill of his heatless body, and could by that deduce his true nature. Having willingly ripped out his own heart in a gruesome ritual meant to grant him immortality by transcending death. Jacob is actually incapable of feeling any true emotions; but having previously lived a normal life as a human, he remembers them and emulates them subconciously, giving off the impression that he actually does retain his humanity, even in undeath. Having lived in complete isolation for centuries, Jacob has evolved into a highly eccentric entity; who cares very little for people, or even himself, seeing humans as uninteresting and uneventful; and it is for this reason that he's taken to collecting the carcasses of all manners of creatures and mages; and any bounty hunter whom sell to Jacob Chaal usually gets five times the actual bounty - so thrilled is the Necromancer by the prospect of devising new creations. History Synopsis Powers & Abilities In life, Jacob was one of the most powerful Wizards of his time --- being viewed as incredibly gifted in the arts of magic, the Black Arts in particular; he was revered by his peers and feared by his enemies; his power earned him a place within the then equivalent of the Ten Wizard Saints; a membership which has long since absolved itself over the centuries; since his death and Reincarnation as an undead, Jacob's powers have grown exponentially, now having such an extremely intricate knowledge of Necromancy that he no longer even believes in death, having cheated, denied and abused it for centuries, and milleniums still to come. Beacon of Undeath: Jacob Chaal possesses the supernatural ability to inspire and urge the undead; as long as he remains nearby - the undead are known to fight with great ferocity and cunning; as if Jacob was an inspiring commander leading not an army of the dead - but an army of well seasoned and disciplined soldiers; this is a permanent effect and seems to stem from the countless years he has spent researching the secrets of life, or as is more appropriate, unlife as well as his close association and intimate understanding of death, and what may possibly lie beyond. Undeath: Jacob managed to transcend the limitations of a human body and entered into the gentle chill of undeath an unknown number of years ago; and he's ceased aging from that time and up until now. In fact, having somehow succeeded at making himself undead he is also not easily effected by many spells meant to target and make use of his individual emotions as while he still breathes; at least superficially his heart has become as cold and unfeeling as the very grave itself; and it is nothing more but a lump of stone - for this reason Jacob's skin is always cold to the touch; albeit not to the same extend as that of his undead brethren and servants: the myths and rumors around where he is from suggests that Jacob carved out his own heart and placed it in a box of obsidian and then proceeded to hide it somewhere in his castle; guarded by indescribable monstrosities handplucked from the nightmares of ordinary people. Unlike most other undead though, Jacob is far from mindless and his intelligence is still very much intact - and now, it is unperturbed by human emotions; or morals. Ghastly Form In the unlikely scenario that Jacob's main body is somehow destroyed; Jacob doesn't truly die - instead, he takes on a spectral and ghost-like form of his former self; appearing only as a disembodied head which may, trough intense mental effort on the part of Jacob partially materialize itself into a semi-corporeal form; trough this he may still command his undead minions so at the very most, destroying his physical body accomplishes very little other than to provide a slight delay for the Necromancer; and his undead servants remain very much "alive" - however, while in this form he cannot move outside of his castle under any circumstances; and must retreat to the obsidian box which houses his heart at regular intervals; lest he lose his grip to the mortal world and perish, again. Possession: '''While in his ghast form, Jacob may attempt to possess any dead and inanimate body or object within the range of the box which houses his heart --- for this reason he's set aside several male corpses whom are magically transformed to his exact likeness in which he may take host in order to effectively ressurect himself. He may also take possession of a freshly killed human male in his castle in order to get the exact same results; although in such a scenario he needs to perform a several hour long ritual in order to mold his new body into his likeness. Although he does at rare times choose to keep the original appearance for deceptive and misleading reasons --- wearing the carcass of another man like a mask. Necromancy '''Body Preservation: '''By merely reciting a short chant, Jacob is capable of preserving a targeted corpse near-indefinately; this is especially useful for preserving male bodies which he may later possess, should his current body ever be destroyed: He also uses this spell with great frequency and has even enchanted several crypts to duplicate this spell in order to get more humanoid servants; and as a rule, most, although not all of Jacob's undead creations appears perfectly human, save for an unnatural paleness. '''The Gentle Finger: '''This is Jacob's preferred offensive spell; it gathers a multi-layered mass of negative and magical energy at his fingertips which is then promptly released in a scintilating bolt of dark-blue energy which seeks out the target of the spell with great speed and precision; if used against someone of non-magical ability, such as normal citizens; the Gentle Finger induces immediate and painless death --- on the contrary, if used against those of magical descent; it produces aggravated injuries saturated with negative energy - wounds which appears to be magically contagious; as similiar injuries begin to slit themselves open at their own accord across the bodies of those within three feet of the cursed victim, worst of all - the festering wounds produced by the spell gives off a putrid stench. The real use of this spell though is not to injure the target; it is meant to make fighting for Jacob much easier, as any mage afflicted by this spell will have a very hard time concentrating on their spells due to the intense agony and sickening smell. '''Jacob's Arc of Torment: '''a very simple but still incredibly efficient variation of Jacob's Gentle Finger spell, the Arc of Torment takes the shape of crimson forks of lightning which is channeled trough Jacon's limbs in order to hurl arcing bolts of negative energy onto the target from afar; the Arc of Torment can be cast either with one or both hands and is capable of branching out into several lesser forks of lightning which can target enemies adjacent to the main target for significant, albeit reduced damage. The intensity of this spell varies completely upon how powerful Jacob desires for it to be, at full power, a single discharge of this spell is enough to either permanently cripple or kill a target if they don't defend themselves properly --- Jacob prefers this method of killing to be most profitable as the Arc of Torment doesn't leave any actual wounds on the body while used in such a sudden burst of energy. Jacob's Arc of Torment, as the name implies is also noted to be excruciatingly painful and can thus be used as a form of torture, with gruesome after-effects; prolonged exposure to the spell will invariably begin to deform the body of the victim due to the large amount of negative energy which continously assaults their body and may also completely paralyze the victim in certain parts of their body; as it is known that Jacob, in his younger days used the Arc of Torment to confine a rival to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Other insideous long term effects included brain damage, loss of vision and blindness. '''The Black Curse: An exceedingly powerful curse which Jacob cast upon the forests sorrounding his keep in his younger days, to keep on expanding his sphere of influence and keeping nosy travellers away from his domain, its effects are such that any living being that dies within the confines of the forest will be ressurected shortly thereafter as one of his mindless undead thralls; furthermore, the dark influence of the curse itself works in symbiosis with the forests vast negative energy; automatically sustaining itself by feeding on the negative aura its unliving inhabitants emit; therefore, there are only two known ways to end the curse. Either eradicate every single undead in the forest or destroy Jacob himself; both being feats of great difficulty and therefore no attempt has been made to end the curse for almost a full century. Personal Spells Category:Dark Mage Category:Caster-Mage Category:Necromancer